


For the Best

by PalauMaggot



Series: Growing up in High School [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 21:19:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6675805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PalauMaggot/pseuds/PalauMaggot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper is introduced into their little group.<br/>Tony thinks it's a good idea to try out dating.<br/>Spoiler alert:<br/>It's not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For the Best

**Author's Note:**

> Not my best but I had to get this out before I wrote another story for this series.

Tony could deal with group projects, he usually always got put in charge of the whole body of the work but he didn’t mind too much. He knew he was smarter than everyone in the class. The partner projects however weren’t that particularly great. Either Tony ended up getting someone who didn’t do anything, which was what he preferred, or he got someone who wanted to do their fair share but got annoyed with Tony’s know-it-all nature.

Tony was typically in a class with someone he knew, but the teacher always chose the partners so that always never worked out. It was like they knew who Tony wanted to go with and made sure that he didn’t.

Today it was someone named ‘Virginia’, Tony could tell just by her name she would try to at least do some of the assignment even if she was wrong on most of it. He sighed as he set his things on the table next to her. Tony just raised an eyebrow when she went to the back of the workbook.

“I figured that I would start at the back and you could start at the front and we’ll meet in the middle somewhere and check each other’s answers?” She phrased it more as a statement that didn’t leave much room for his input but also in a polite manner.

Tony nodded and got to work with a small smile on his face. She was at least smart enough not to argue on questions with him which automatically endeared her to him. Maybe they would be good partners, “So, do you even like your name?” Okay, it was a bit rude but who really would like it?

The girl just smiled as if she was holding back a laugh and shook her head. She didn’t even look up from the workbook, “I really don’t but there isn’t any good way to shorten it.” She filled in a few answers before glancing at her partner. She noticed that he seemed lost in thought and waved her pencil in front of his eyes, “Hey, I thought I was with the smartest kid in class, I don’t want to do this by myself.”

Tony looked at her and grinned, “You want to eat lunch with me and my friends?” He almost tripped over that last word but managed to recover. Tony couldn’t say ‘acquaintances’ or ‘life-saviors’ without sounding weirder than he was. Her look of shock made him grin more before going to do his work. He heard her mumbled “Sure.” but had started to write down some answers.

Maybe their little rag-tag group was going to get bigger.

Pepper was accepted with open arms into the group. Her quick wit had endeared her to Nat and they quickly teamed up with each other for many verbal onslaughts. When there was a small lull in the conversation between everyone Tony grinned, “Pepper!”

The table looked at him with various states of confusion. To be fair it was a general state whenever Tony talked. He was simply smiling in triumph at the new girl until she realized what he was talking about. And she simply replied with a small smile, “Pepper.”

Nothing was explained and everyone got back to their conversations but Tony felt something shift between his and Pepper’s relationship. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing but at that moment it felt great.

He and Pepper started to hang out more. Tony made an effort to sit next to her in their class and helped her with some work when she was stuck. All around he felt that it was a great experience and felt that they were really connecting with each other. Tony decided that he would try to ask her out.

It was a simple “Do you want to catch a movie with me?” And if Tony felt the relief from her saying ‘yes.’ he kept it to himself because he could still hear his dad’s voice echoing in his head about friends being detrimental. Tony could only guess what Howard would say about dating people.

The single movie date turned into multiple and pretty soon Tony was sending her a relationship request on Facebook. They had already talked about going steady and the group of friends knew that Tony and Pepper were something but it didn’t help the feeling in Tony’s gut about the possibility of her not accepting the request and simply stringing him along for the fun of it.

This alone should have tipped him off to the fact that maybe he wasn’t entirely ready for a relationship.

It was a month into their relationship when they had their first fight. Tony wasn’t sure what to do after. Pepper had introduced him to her parents and kept dropping hints to meeting his. The genius didn’t know what Howard would do. He didn’t want to subject Pepper to that.

“Do you feel ashamed of me, Tony? Or is there a reason why we’ve never gone to your house?” Pepper had slight tears in her eyes from frustration.

Tony stuffed his hands into his pockets and huffed. If it came out a bit shaky he didn’t call any attention to it, “No I’m not ashamed of you Pepper, who would be? It’s just-” He didn’t want to tell her that he was actually petrified of his father and Tony wouldn’t be able to protect her if Howard did end up doing something, “It’s a sort of rule that my dad has.” He winced inwardly at his own excuse.

Pepper didn’t buy it either, “You’re father, Howard Stark, who throws parties at least once a month doesn’t want people over.” She said with her arms crossed.

Tony shook his head, he had to make it more believable, “It’s not people, it’s the fact that you are younger than 21.” He took a breath to help him think of more to the lie, “He doesn’t trust anyone in the house because we’ve had bad experiences in the past.” Tony ran a hand through his hair and wondered if anyone at the lunch table noticed how late they were.

Pepper shook her head again, “But I’m your girlfriend. My parents wanted to meet you as soon as I told them about you. Why wouldn’t Howard want to meet me?”

Tony reached forward and held her arms reassuringly, “It’s not you, it’s him.” He made eye contact with Pepper before continuing, “He doesn’t really like anyone under 21.” He saw her expression change to defeat and felt a weight lift off of his shoulders.

As an apology, Tony got her a laptop since her’s was dying. He didn’t see her unsure look.

Crisis averted. Until the next one showed up.

Howard had always ingrained a sense of individualism into Tony. He wanted to make sure that Tony didn’t have any relationships that could be used against him. So Tony always had to skip hanging out with his friends unless he made a good excuse.

Most of the time Howard was working on something or not even home but Maria, Maria was the problem. She would congradulate Tony on his friends, she would insist they come over and meet her and Howard, then Howard will find out and they were back to square one.

Pepper didn’t like that Tony was semi secretive to his parents.

“Hey Tony, you made it!” Clint saluted him from the diner booth that their group was seated.

Tony smiled from behind his sunglasses and nodded back, “Yeah, I told mom that it was a club meeting so I’m set for about two hours.”

Pepper looked like she had tasted something that she didn’t like, “Why couldn’t you tell her that you were here?”

Tony scratched the back of his neck and shrugged as he sat next to her, “It’s just a thing. Don’t worry about it.” He hoped that she would drop it but as the meal went on he realized that she didn’t relax.

“Can we talk?”

The table went quiet for a moment before everyone started to talk to different partners to give the two some space. Both Pepper and Tony noticed but didn’t say anything. Tony nodded and stood up from the booth.

Pepper slid out and led them to a more secluded spot, “Why don’t you tell your mother where you’re at? Don’t you feel bad when you lie to them?”

Tony sighed before shaking his head, “It’s not that simple Pep.” He was grateful that it wasn’t a break up conversation but this subject matter wasn’t all that better, “Let’s just go back to the table, yeah?” He glanced to where they were sitting and saw a few of their friends throwing not-so-subtle glances their way.

“No, Tony we are talking about this.”

Tony squeezed his eyes shut from behind his sunglasses and shook his head, “Really Pepper, drop it, it’s none of your business.” He supposed it wasn’t nice of him to say that but she was pushing too far into private information.

Pepper looked shocked, “Not my business? You’re my boyfriend. It is my business. First you wont let me meet your parents-”

“Hey we talked about that-”

“Oh yeah. A half-hearted ‘It’s Howard’s fault’ is talking about it-”

“It is, Pepper you’re blowing this way out of-”

“I’m blowing this out of proportion?!”

“Yes! You are and it’s really stupid-”

“You know what-” Pepper yanked the sunglasses off of Tony’s face to look him in the eyes. But she didn’t expect him to flinch violently backward as if she was going to hit him.

Tony saw the hand come at him as if in slow motion and suddenly he wasn’t in the diner anymore. He was back at the house and it was Howard’s hand. Tony’s instinct was to protect his face and so he did. He registered the fact that there wasn’t any pain or yelling and then he remembered. The diner, Pepper, they were fighting, she was reaching forward to grab his glasses.

Tony ignored the fact that his glasses were now in Pepper’s hand and cleared his throat, “I’m going back to my house.” He said quietly. Tony walked around Pepper and to the table. It was quiet. They saw the whole thing too. After a mumbled apology he dropped a few dollars onto the table to cover his tab before leaving. Pepper was still standing in her spot.

Tony kept sending gifts to her house. Large stuffed animals, gift cards to her favorite stores, he figured that it was a good apology until he got her text.

_“We need to talk.”_

He stayed away from the school for a few days. Tony knew exactly what she wanted to do and he didn’t want to face the fact yet. She was amazing and smart and didn’t take his crap. He cried a few times in his room, cursing himself for messing up the one relationship he thought was going to be the thing that he would fight for. When he finally gave up and came back to school, Pepper pulled him aside before their first class. She hugged him and said that they probably shouldn’t be seeing each other. They had different values and views of the world that it just wouldn’t work out. She gave him back his sunglasses.

Tony just nodded along. He knew that she was trying to soften the blow but it still hurt. She was looking less and less happy so Tony figured it was for the best.


End file.
